El Salvador

Finca Santa Rosa Natural

Natural Pacamara

This naturally processed Pacamara brings an extra dimension of ripe fruit to the cup, with rich stewed berries joining the fresh and floral character of the varietal.

Three-time Cup of Excellence winning farm, most recently in 2019.

Producer
Raul Rivera
Coffee expression
A fruity & rich coffee

Regular price: $25.00
incl. vat/tax
Sale price: $25.00
incl. vat/tax
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We were last able to visit in March of 2020, and this is the fifth time we have purchased coffee from Raul.

Finca Santa Rosa

Raul Rivera

This is our fifth year buying coffee from Jorge Raul Rivera. Raul is a second generation coffee producer, based just outside the town of La Palma, in the far north-west of El Salvador, close to the border with Honduras. His farm, Finca Santa Rosa, is located at around 1550 masl on the slopes of El Pital, El Salvador’s highest point. The farm is planted mainly with the famed Salvadoran varietal Pacamara, and has produced some of the country’s highest quality and most innovative coffees in recent years.

Raul Rivera

Finca Santa Rosa

Jorge Raul Rivera Sr. began growing coffee, mainly of low quality, in the region around La Palma in 1979. This was the beginning of El Salvador’s brutal civil war, so many were abandoning their land, selling cheap and fleeing into neighbouring Honduras. Raul Sr. capitalised on this, bought some plots cheaply and began to grow coffee. He was one of the first to grow coffee in the area, and one of the few that stayed during the war. As El Salvador began to settle again after the war, the Riveras bought the land that would become Finca Santa Rosa, and began to grow timber, due to government subsidies aiming to help the post-war rebuilding effort. However, in 2003, the Cup of Excellence came to El Salvador, a great showcase for the first few speciality coffee producers in the country. The Riveras saw a prime opportunity to enter the high quality coffee market, and realised that the conditions at Finca Santa Rosa were perfect. The family knew that if they could produce micro-lots of high enough quality, they could fetch high prices at the Cup of Excellence auctions, making their farm highly profitable. They therefore planted their farm with Pacamara, famed for high quality cups, and set off in pursuit of the Cup of Excellence crown.

This naturally processed Pacamara brings an extra dimension of ripe fruit to the cup, with rich stewed berries joining the fresh and floral character of the varietal.

Natural pacamara

The Cup of Excellence

Years of work have resulted in three overall wins, in 2014, 2017 and 2019, all with their honey-processed Pacamara. In this year’s competition, a Honey Pacamara from Santa Rosa finished in second place. The pine from the old timber plantations has been retained as shade for the coffee, always reminding us of a Danish pine forest during our visits. Visiting Raul is always a treat, he’s a genuinely passionate and professional coffee producer who’s enthusiasm is rather infectious, in fact it’s sometimes difficult to leave Finca Santa Rosa, as Raul is always keen to share his knowledge and experience. The pride he takes in every single detail of the farm and step of the process is obvious, and this translates into the incredibly high quality lots of coffee he is able to produce.

This naturally processed Pacamara brings an extra dimension of ripe fruit to the cup compared to the honey version, with rich stewed berries joining the fresh and floral character of the varietal.

Technical Data

Producer
Raul Rivera
Region
Chalatenango
Altitude
1550 masl
Varietal
Pacamara
Process
Natural
Harvest
March 2022

Natural Process

The natural, or dry process, is the traditional process, going back generations. When accomplished in a controlled and careful manner, dry processed coffees can produce flavour experiences not found in wet processed coffees, deep fruits and florals, normally with heavier mouthfeel and lower acidity. The cherries are first sorted, and then laid out on in thin layers (2-6 cm) on raised drying beds. These are almost always used for high quality naturals, as they aid airflow around the coffee as it dries, enabling more even drying.

It is very important that coffees are sorted very carefully early on in the drying process, as all of the cherries quickly turn dark brown, making it impossible to separate under and overripe cherries. The cherries are turned frequently to avoid mold formation or over-fermentation, until they reach a moisture content of below 20%, and the outer cherry layer shrinks and blackens. This process takes between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on weather conditions.